They run themselves mostly like a small democracy. The party has a lot of smaller organizations that help run the whole thing, like state republican parties, the RNC (Republican National Committee) and others. There's also a group of "leaders" that have been there forever and are considered to run the whole thing. In government, the party not in the majority appoints leaders for their minority positions. Mitch McConnell is the minority leader in the Senate. The Republicans have a majority in the House, Boehner and Cantor are the two main leaders there. The Democratic minority leader is Pelosi.

The whips only help carry out orders and get things done. In the end, party leadership is mainly determined by the majority leader, the speaker of the house (if there is one in the same party), the Senate, and the chairman of the RNC.

Outside national government, parties are quite decentralized. It's a farce to believe that they're a tight, cohesive unit, because the Democratic Party of Mississippi and the Democratic Party of New York are VERY different.

0

Nasty, brutish, and about 6'1".

Look at me. I can start and stop wars, at will. I can save or destroy the world. I can do anything I fucking want. Just now, I pissed near my toilet bowl because I fucking can.